If you’ve still any doubt social media is an indispensable tool for business, check out these staggering statistics of what social media campaigns accomplished for these businesses:
An Old Spice campaign resulted in a 60% increase in Facebook fans, with between 500,000 to 800,000 new fans in one month’s time. Twitter followers jumped an astounding 2,700%, and YouTube subscribers more than doubled to over 150,000.
Under Armor’s campaign to find their “Ultimate Intern” resulted in a 130% in Facebook page Like’s, a 25% increase in Facebook active users, and a 45% increase in Newsfeed impressions.
Coca-Cola got 86.5 million impressions for a Promoted Trend on Twitter. Yes, MILLION!
Evian’s video “Roller Skating Babies” received 65.5 million plays in two years.
20 million impressions came from Network Solutions “Go Granny” Super Bowl tweets.
McDonald’s showed a 33% increase in check-ins (Foursquare, Places, etc.) from a one day campaign randomly rewarding $5 and $10 gift cards for check-ins.
There were 184,000 players checking in during a scavenger game campaign at Buffalo Wild Wings.
In general, Foursquare had 381,576,305 check-ins in 2010 alone.
Are you beginning to get the picture? The numbers associated with expertise in integrating social media campaigns into your business marketing can be mind-blowing! And with social media continuing to grow, the numbers can only get better, as businesses better understand how to effectively engage people (I.e. = potential consumers). Those potential consumers ARE using social media…. Are YOU?
Source: Mashable's Todd Wasserman and Lauren Drell
Friday, August 19, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Is Your Website Mobile? Part 2
People are so entrenched in the information they can gather from their mobile devices these days that they expect to be able to get what they are looking for on a mobile device… exactly when they want it. This is the case even though most real estate websites are not formatted for use on the mobile device. People have turned to apps from companies like Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com. There’s nothing wrong with this… in fact they have great apps, however, it presents an opportunity for you as the agent to take back this consumer.
There is a good chance that the real estate consumer who texts-in for information was not aware of you or your firm prior to that text message. Now you have just provided them the exact information they wanted at the precise time they wanted it by incorporating a text message solution on your listings. In addition, if you had a mobile website, where they were able to not only get information on the property that they were looking at, but search the entire MLS, use GPS to see the 10 closest listings to the one they just looked at and get all your contact information as the agent who has provided them this information, they would be thoroughly impressed. I would go so far as to say that if you were able to provide this experience to a potential real estate consumer, the chances you could convert them to a buyer or seller have just increased dramatically.
However, if standard practices are not adhered to, potential pitfalls can occur. A poor mobile website portrays a bad impression of you and your business, potentially turning away customers. You must recognize that the needs of mobile browsers are different from PC Internet users. Based on knowledge of your customers, you should focus your message, so that it is contextual to the mobile arena and targets your mobile browsers’ needs. This must be achieved while also keeping your brand identity and marketing message consistent with your other communication media. A poorly designed mobile website will not be credible. As with the PC Internet, it is vital that mobile websites are easily accessible and are optimized for search and discovery tools.
Due to issues such as small screen sizes, slower download speeds and device incompatibility, industry standards around the Mobile Web are imperative. With the rush to create mobile websites we are seeing a wide variance in the quality of the websites created - from the captivating to the single static page.
Guidelines for mobile website development have been released by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international community where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop web standards. dotMobi engaged with the W3C Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) to help formulate the MWI Best Practices for mobile content. The practices outline a number of ways to achieve good user experiences on mobile Web-enabled devices, and recognized several methods of implementing these practices. These are intended to communicate to website developers how to improve the user experience, thus ensuring that the Mobile Web is more reliable and accessible.
The unique challenges inherent to Mobile Web include:
• Size of screen on most mobile devices.
• Scrolling on a mobile phone.
• Typing on a mobile phone.
In addition, there are wide variations in the capabilities of mobile devices; from the smallest mobile phone, to PDA handsets, to laptops with mouse and QWERTY capabilities.
The W3C and dotMobi guidelines include catering for these challenges as well as a renewed focus on website efficiency. These key elements are:
• Minimizing the number of clicks. An additional click may be a minor irritation on a PC, but on a mobile phone it is a bigger issue, information is expected quickly.
• Reducing the number of kilobytes in each downloaded page.
• Delivering specific information. Mobile devices are currently less likely to be used for general browsing but more for retrieving specific information.
There are many mobile services that provide mobile web technology that complies with the “W3C Mobile Web Best Practices”. Some optimize an existing non-mobile website for mobile use, and recognize when someone has come to the website from a mobile browser and redirects them to the mobile version. There are stand alone mobile sites. Determine which works best for you and GO MOBILE! Real estate agents with standards-compliant search-optimized mobile websites will clearly have a competitive advantage. You can become the destination for real estate information mobile devices of consumers in your local market if you format your listing information for mobile.
Sources: Sybase, a SAP mobile intelligence company; Google Insights; Nubiq; REALTOR.com®; RISMedia
There is a good chance that the real estate consumer who texts-in for information was not aware of you or your firm prior to that text message. Now you have just provided them the exact information they wanted at the precise time they wanted it by incorporating a text message solution on your listings. In addition, if you had a mobile website, where they were able to not only get information on the property that they were looking at, but search the entire MLS, use GPS to see the 10 closest listings to the one they just looked at and get all your contact information as the agent who has provided them this information, they would be thoroughly impressed. I would go so far as to say that if you were able to provide this experience to a potential real estate consumer, the chances you could convert them to a buyer or seller have just increased dramatically.
However, if standard practices are not adhered to, potential pitfalls can occur. A poor mobile website portrays a bad impression of you and your business, potentially turning away customers. You must recognize that the needs of mobile browsers are different from PC Internet users. Based on knowledge of your customers, you should focus your message, so that it is contextual to the mobile arena and targets your mobile browsers’ needs. This must be achieved while also keeping your brand identity and marketing message consistent with your other communication media. A poorly designed mobile website will not be credible. As with the PC Internet, it is vital that mobile websites are easily accessible and are optimized for search and discovery tools.
Due to issues such as small screen sizes, slower download speeds and device incompatibility, industry standards around the Mobile Web are imperative. With the rush to create mobile websites we are seeing a wide variance in the quality of the websites created - from the captivating to the single static page.
Guidelines for mobile website development have been released by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international community where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop web standards. dotMobi engaged with the W3C Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) to help formulate the MWI Best Practices for mobile content. The practices outline a number of ways to achieve good user experiences on mobile Web-enabled devices, and recognized several methods of implementing these practices. These are intended to communicate to website developers how to improve the user experience, thus ensuring that the Mobile Web is more reliable and accessible.
The unique challenges inherent to Mobile Web include:
• Size of screen on most mobile devices.
• Scrolling on a mobile phone.
• Typing on a mobile phone.
In addition, there are wide variations in the capabilities of mobile devices; from the smallest mobile phone, to PDA handsets, to laptops with mouse and QWERTY capabilities.
The W3C and dotMobi guidelines include catering for these challenges as well as a renewed focus on website efficiency. These key elements are:
• Minimizing the number of clicks. An additional click may be a minor irritation on a PC, but on a mobile phone it is a bigger issue, information is expected quickly.
• Reducing the number of kilobytes in each downloaded page.
• Delivering specific information. Mobile devices are currently less likely to be used for general browsing but more for retrieving specific information.
There are many mobile services that provide mobile web technology that complies with the “W3C Mobile Web Best Practices”. Some optimize an existing non-mobile website for mobile use, and recognize when someone has come to the website from a mobile browser and redirects them to the mobile version. There are stand alone mobile sites. Determine which works best for you and GO MOBILE! Real estate agents with standards-compliant search-optimized mobile websites will clearly have a competitive advantage. You can become the destination for real estate information mobile devices of consumers in your local market if you format your listing information for mobile.
Sources: Sybase, a SAP mobile intelligence company; Google Insights; Nubiq; REALTOR.com®; RISMedia
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Is Your Website Mobile? Part 1
According to comScore, 36% of Americans browsed the mobile web in December 2010, and this is particularly important in real estate, where mobile buyers are looking for quick access to the best property listings available. Demand for these types of sites has grown substantially and if you would like to see your real estate business stay above the curve, you need to understand the importance of using simple mobile websites for it. You must be able to anticipate what your customers needs are and then meet them.
Bottom line though, you’re a real estate agent, you aren’t, nor should you be, a technology guru. Technology tools are to help you be a better real estate agent; because if you don’t do transactions, you don’t make money. But no matter how much technology one embraces, real estate will always be a people business. Mobile web is simply about finding them differently, communicating with them differently, and leveraging consumer-demanded technology to generate leads differently.
Consider these statistics:
• Over 70% of the world population now has a mobile phone, that’s over 5 billion mobile subscribers, and in places like the US, it’s 9 in 10 people. Apple has sold almost 60 million iPhones world wide, while Google’s Android OS is growing at 886% year on year and now activating over 160,000 devices a day, across 60 devices in over 40 countries.
• In 2014, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage and already in 2011, more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device. Mobile search has grown 400% in the past year.
• 85% of mobile devices will be web-enabled by 2012.
• There are almost 5 times more mobile devices than there are computers. Text messages have a 95% read-rate, and are read in an average of 4 minutes.
As Realtors use social media more and more in their marketing, the following stats become even more important to pay attention to:
• Over 1/3rd of Facebook’s 600 million+ user base uses Facebook Mobile.
• 50% of Twitter’s 165 million users use Twitter Mobile.
• 200 million+ YouTube views occur on mobile devices per day.
It's time for your business to make its next Internet visibility and marketing investment in a mobile website. Your current website is probably available on a cell-phone, but is it readable? Is it user-friendly? Really?? Tiny print, tiny pictures, and impossible to click navigation will not cut it. The biggest user frustrations with the Mobile Web are:
• Site Load Time.
• Site Navigation.
• User Friendliness.
• Web Page Layout.
The stakes are higher in terms of providing a good user experience. If a user’s time is wasted on their mobile phone, they are less likely to be forgiving.
By establishing a good mobile web presence, you are opening up a new window of opportunity and are providing a richer user experience to your mobile customers.
Sources: Sybase, a SAP mobile intelligence company; Google Insights; Nubiq; REALTOR.com®; RISMedia
Bottom line though, you’re a real estate agent, you aren’t, nor should you be, a technology guru. Technology tools are to help you be a better real estate agent; because if you don’t do transactions, you don’t make money. But no matter how much technology one embraces, real estate will always be a people business. Mobile web is simply about finding them differently, communicating with them differently, and leveraging consumer-demanded technology to generate leads differently.
Consider these statistics:
• Over 70% of the world population now has a mobile phone, that’s over 5 billion mobile subscribers, and in places like the US, it’s 9 in 10 people. Apple has sold almost 60 million iPhones world wide, while Google’s Android OS is growing at 886% year on year and now activating over 160,000 devices a day, across 60 devices in over 40 countries.
• In 2014, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage and already in 2011, more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device. Mobile search has grown 400% in the past year.
• 85% of mobile devices will be web-enabled by 2012.
• There are almost 5 times more mobile devices than there are computers. Text messages have a 95% read-rate, and are read in an average of 4 minutes.
As Realtors use social media more and more in their marketing, the following stats become even more important to pay attention to:
• Over 1/3rd of Facebook’s 600 million+ user base uses Facebook Mobile.
• 50% of Twitter’s 165 million users use Twitter Mobile.
• 200 million+ YouTube views occur on mobile devices per day.
It's time for your business to make its next Internet visibility and marketing investment in a mobile website. Your current website is probably available on a cell-phone, but is it readable? Is it user-friendly? Really?? Tiny print, tiny pictures, and impossible to click navigation will not cut it. The biggest user frustrations with the Mobile Web are:
• Site Load Time.
• Site Navigation.
• User Friendliness.
• Web Page Layout.
The stakes are higher in terms of providing a good user experience. If a user’s time is wasted on their mobile phone, they are less likely to be forgiving.
By establishing a good mobile web presence, you are opening up a new window of opportunity and are providing a richer user experience to your mobile customers.
Sources: Sybase, a SAP mobile intelligence company; Google Insights; Nubiq; REALTOR.com®; RISMedia
Friday, August 5, 2011
Now is the Time to Buy and Hold Real Estate
As part of our Guest Blogger series we're pleased to introduce James Guajardo, Managing Partner with Arizona Equity Partners LLC. James provides his insights on the Arizona investment market.
So, which side of the fence are you on?
James Guajardo
Managing Partner
Arizona Equity Properties LLC
www.azequityproperties.com
480-588-2211 ext. 9
Dow Jones Loses More than 500 Points August 4th 2011 yet Arizona is a “Bull Market” in Single Family Cash Flow Investments..
National investment strategists eye the Arizona single family cash flow investment market.
National investment strategists eye the Arizona single family cash flow investment market.
Now is the time to buy and hold real estate. Why? Rent rates are stable and the ability to buy single family homes at liquidated values makes for very promising investment returns of up to 25% not including the future appreciation potential plus depreciation expense on your taxes!
How does this make for a perfect real estate investment market? Answer: The increase in foreclosures and the tightening of lending standards has created the greatest opportunity for positive cash flow investments in our lifetime.
How does this make for a perfect real estate investment market? Answer: The increase in foreclosures and the tightening of lending standards has created the greatest opportunity for positive cash flow investments in our lifetime.
This decade long cycle will have long term financial impact on our next generation of college graduates as well as current baby boomers who are renting and not buying.
So, which side of the fence are you on?
James Guajardo
Managing Partner
Arizona Equity Properties LLC
www.azequityproperties.com
480-588-2211 ext. 9
QR Codes for Real Estate - Part 4
Today is the last installment of our QR Codes for Real Estate Series. Earlier in the week we provided an overview of QR codes, and throughout the week we provided ways in which you can use QR codes in real estate. Today we share the final two ideas for using QR codes to bolster your real estate practice. If you put these ideas to paractice, we'd love to hear your feedback!
4. Property Flyers – Considering all of the information about the listing is on the flyer right there in front of them I think that this is another opportunity to leverage video. If you have a full video tour of the home on YouTube link to that. If not create an Animoto video or something slideshow esque, upload to YouTube and link to that. If you are uncomfortable with video then link to a Vyoo.it listing page where they can then see additional photos and information that would not fit into a single page flyer. I have walked past 1000′s of real estate offices and have seen none of them leveraging this idea which again seems to fall into the no brainer category.
5. Your Vehicle – Hear me out on this one. I polled our Facebook fans a while back to see how many of them were leveraging their contact info and domain name on their ride. Seemed to be the majority. That being said how many agents have taken it to the next level and actually placed a QR Code on their car? My guess is zero, but hey I could be wrong. The strategy with this QR Code should be similar to the business card. Again, address in the video that you link to that you appreciate them taking the time to scan the QR Code on your vehicle and that if they are looking for a tech savvy agent to help them with their buying or selling needs you are the one they should contact when they are ready. An additional bonus is that if it replaces the current headshot you have on the window of your Camry I have made the world a better place!
Source: Chris Smith, Tech Savvy Agent
Thursday, August 4, 2011
QR Codes for Real Estate - Part 3
Welcome to our QR Codes for Real Estate Series. As QR codes gain in popularity and usage, we want to share some information about QR codes and ways they can be utilized in your real estate practice. Earlier in the week we provided an overview of QR codes and the first of 5 ways you can use QR codes in real estate. Today we share another idea on using QR codes to bolster your real estate practice. Stay tuned the rest of the week as each day we will post a new idea.
3. Direct Mail – Tracking ROI through the mail is now actually very easy using QR Codes. If you do just listed cards use Vyoo.it to send them to the mobile optimized site for that new listing. If you are looking to generate leads and new business you may also consider doing a video unique to the mail campaign similar to the above business card strategy. So for example you are mailing to Cypress Creek…start the video with “One of the things I love about working in the Cypress Creek area are the people…” Then obviously let them know that when the time comes to list they deserve to work with a Realtor who leverages the latest online and offline marketing. Even include images and video of the neighborhood to really give it that hyper local touch. Again offer up all of your contact info and social media URL’s in the video and on the mail itself.
Source: Chris Smith, Tech Savvy Agent
3. Direct Mail – Tracking ROI through the mail is now actually very easy using QR Codes. If you do just listed cards use Vyoo.it to send them to the mobile optimized site for that new listing. If you are looking to generate leads and new business you may also consider doing a video unique to the mail campaign similar to the above business card strategy. So for example you are mailing to Cypress Creek…start the video with “One of the things I love about working in the Cypress Creek area are the people…” Then obviously let them know that when the time comes to list they deserve to work with a Realtor who leverages the latest online and offline marketing. Even include images and video of the neighborhood to really give it that hyper local touch. Again offer up all of your contact info and social media URL’s in the video and on the mail itself.
Source: Chris Smith, Tech Savvy Agent
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
QR Codes for Real Estate - Part 2
Welcome to our QR Codes for Real Estate Series. As QR codes gain in popularity and usage, we want to share some information about QR codes and ways they can be utilized in your real estate practice. Yesterday's post was an overview of QR codes and the first of 5 ways you can use QR codes in real estate. Today we share another idea on using QR codes to bolster your real estate practice. Stay tuned the rest of the week as each day we will post a new idea.
2. Business Cards – Another no brainer in my opinion but I can envision agents screwing this up royally. If I had to guess most agents will put a QR Code on their business card that will lead to a website where the exact same information on the business card is then regurgitated. NO VALUE there beyond maybe the web visitor but again is your website even mobile friendly yet? So here is the strategy. Record a video that you upload to YouTube that is 100% specific to the fact that they got your business card and scanned it. Then use Goo.gl to generate the QR Code. So for example the beginning of the video should say “Thanks so much for taking the time to scan the QR Code on the back of my business card it was great meeting you in person…” I would also then offer them up any other resources like your Facebook Page, Blog or Twitter account letting them know that you want to connect where THEY want to connect. In the video be sure to layover text with all of the other URL’s that would be relevant and mention that when it gets closer to the time for them to buy or sell hopefully they will remember that you leverage the latest technology both off line and online!
Source: Chris Smith, Tech Savvy Agent
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